Vermicelli-folding machine.



B. F. A. COURITINE.

VERMICELLI FOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12. 19l2.

1,143,509. Patented June 15, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET I- THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTC-LITHO.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

B. F. A. COURTINE.

VERMICELLI FOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1912. 1,143,509. Patented June 15, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

rm: NuRRIS PEIERS :0, WASHINGTON, L.

B. F. A. COURTINE.

VERMICELLI FOLDING MACHINE.

APPL|CAT|ON HLED SEPT-12,1912. 1,143,59. Patented June 15, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

j? I, 5i w fi 4y g J0 a .k WRRIS FETEIS C0. PHOTC LITHOH WASH/LION. a Li VERMICELLI-FOLDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jane as, rare.

Application filed September 12, 1912. Serial No. 720,014.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that-I, BENJAMIN FERDINAND AUGUsTE CoUR'rINE, citizen of the Republic of France, and residing at Maisons-Alfort, Seine, in the said Republic, manufacturer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vermicelli- Folding Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My improvements relate to that class of vermicelli folding machines in which the paste threads come out of the press as bundles each comprising the number of threads necessary for making a skein, said bundles of threads falling vertically in a straight line before the head of the machine.

The objects of the improvements are: first to allow of varying at will'the shape and size of the skeins, according to the demand; secondly to increase the output of the folding machine by making the knives of great length without running the risk of having the movable knives striking the stationary knives; thirdly, to avoid the machine being broken or stopped accidentally in case the swinging folding boards become clogged and consequently cannot come back to their original position before the knives move forward.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side view of my improved vermicelli folding machine. Fig. 2 is a top view thereof. Figs. 3 and 4: are detached views of the mechanism serving to move the spindle of the first folding board transversely. Fig. 3 being a view taken from the front of the machine while Fig. i is a view from the right hand end of the latter.

The mechanism for transversely moving the spindle of the second folding board is similar but symmetrical to the mechanism shown at these figures and is driven by a shaft parallel to the first one.

The bundles of paste threads fall in line in front of two movable knives, which latter, when they arrive at the stationary knives, serve viz the first to sever bundles of threads from the paste coming out of the press, and the second one (which cuts just after the other) to cut off the tails of the threads in order to equalize the length of the latter. As usual a cross board carried by the upper movable knife and which becomes more and more inclined as it progresses with it lays the threads onto the two adjacent swinging folding plates and carries their fore end beyond the second board for a distance of about the width of said board The first swinging board folds the bundles of threads over, and the second one makes another fold; thus the skeins are formed, the boards moving transversely in addition to their swinging movement, taking with them the bundles which lie in their recesses, so that the part of the threads which was lying on a folding board falls on the stationary part of the threads at an angle. As will be seen, the folding is performed in the same way as in the known machines, except that the present improvements permit varying the size of the skeins, which is a capital advantage. It is obvious that this variation requires: firstly changing the length of the' threads severed by the knives; secondly changing the distance between the spindles of the folding boards in a corresponding manner; thirdly changing also the extent of the cross movement of said boards. To fulfil the last two requirements, the folding boards must be capable of receiving the necessary swinging movement notwithstanding the altered dis tance between their spindles and moreover the transverse movement of these spindles must be adjustable and independent from their swinging movement. The means used to attain this and also to avoid every inconvenience in case the swinging folding boards accidentally stand upright when the knives are moving forward will be hereafter explained. On the other hand, considering that the paste threads are cut by two horizontal knife blades which in their motion overlap the edge of two stationary blades, it had been necessary, up to the present, to make the blades rather short, that is to say to make rather narrow machines, as otherwise the least bending of one blade would have caused it to strike the opposing blade when reaching it. The improved arrangement of the knives which will be hereafter described allows of making the folding machilne very wide, without running any such r1s The following is a full description of the construction and arrangement of parts of my improved folding machine, and of its operation.

The shaft 1 carries a fly-wheel 2, pulleys 3 and a pinion 1 which latter through a toothed wheel 5 rotates a shaft 6; .on this latter is secured a pinion 7 driving a shaft 9 through. a toothed wheel 8. All of the above mentioned parts are on the side of the machine opposite the side represented by Fig. 1.

The shaft 9 extends across the machine, and at its front end it carries a treble cam 10 provided with a cam-groove 11 on its face and with two cam-ways 12 and 13 in two different planes at its periphery. As said shaft turns in the direction of the arrow at Fig. 1, the cam-groove 11, engages a friction roller 14 and lifts the tail of a toothed quadrant 15; the latter through a pinion 16 rotates a shaft 17 on which are secured, on both sides of the machine, said pinion 16 and a pinion 19 meshing respectively with racks 20 and 21 which slide in guide-ways in the frame 22 of the machine; these racks carry the movable knife blades 23 and 24: which they move toward the stationary blades 25 and 26, the blade 26 being adj ustably connected to its support by means of bolts 26 which project through transverse slots 26 formed in the blade.

The sizes of the pinions 16 and 19 are such that the movable blade 24L reaches the stationary blade 26 a little before the blade 23 reaches the blade 25. Bundles of paste threads are therefore first severed from the bundles 27 coming out of the press and then the lower blades reach each other and so equalize the tails.

As it is also the case in the known folding machine as the upper knife 24: advances the threads 27 are supported and carried along by a cross board 28 hinged to that knife and which is caused by a guide-groove 29 to take a slanting position; this cross board lays the threads on the two swinging folding boards 30 and 31 and carries them along a little farther; its function is principally to prevent the threads from coming behind the knife when the latter comes back. The first folding boards then make half a revolution in the direction of the arrow at Fig. 1, in order to fold the bundle in two, and simultaneously it moves transversely so as to cause the part of the threads which is thus turned over, to make an angle with the fixed part of the threads. Then the second folding board performs the same movements, thus folding in two the double layer of threads. This completes the skein and now the latter rests only on the sheet of paper 841 which, when entirely covered with parallel rows of skeins, will be taken to the drying chamber.

The above swinging movement is given to the folding boards in the following man- When the cam-groove 11 has ceased to act and the two movable knives have come back to their original position, by the .continued motion of the cam-disk 10 the cam-way 13 engages the frictionroller .32 carried by a bent lever 3st rockable on a shaft 33, causing this lever to draw the chain 35, which is connected to the first folding board 30; this board consequently makes half a revolution in the direction of the arrow at Fig. 1, against the action of the spring 36; the latter pulls it back to its original position as soon as the friction roller 32 is again on the circular part of the cam-way. At that moment the cam-way 12 engages the friction roller 37 and moves the bent lever 39 rockable on shaft 38, and the second folding board in turn makes half a revolution in the same direction as the first one. In order to maintain the skeins for some time in order to secure their shape, the cam-way 12 has a rather long circular portion. V

In order to allow adjustment of the swing ing movement of the folding boards, the

friction rollers 32 and 37 are mounted in elongated holes, which permit varying the leverage of the levers 3 1 and 39.

The friction rollers 32 and 37 are pressed,

against the ways of the cam-disk bymeans of springs (not shown) connected to the shafts 33 and 38, and to the levers 34 and 39,

the springs 36 of the folding boards simply turning around these'nuts when the latter are not tightened.

The transverse motion as well as the swinging motion is given to the spindles of the folding boards by the shafts 33 and 38; for the purpose, the mechanism shown at Figs. 3 and 4 is attached to the shaft 33, and the shaft 38 is provided with a similar mechanism symmetrically arranged; these mechanisms are at the opposite side of the machine to that where the treble cam is.

l/Vhen the shaft 33 rotates to swing the first folding board 30, it moves a lever 4- 1 secured on it and this lever carries a threaded horizontal rod 45, which is connected, by a pivot bolt 4:6, with a bent lever 4:7. As the positlon of the spindle of the folding board is sometimes altered, the upper arm of the lever 47 is provided with a lock joint 18 whereby the position of said arm may be changed to suitthe position of the spindle. The lever 47 is pivotally connected with said spindle by means of a rod 19 which is slidably mounted in the upper end of the lever,

held on the spindle by two securing rings 52.

It is easy to understand how this mechanism gives a transverse motion to the folding boards and to see that it performs its function whatever the position of their spindles may be, according to the size of the skeins to be made. The fact of the rod 49 freely sliding permits it to take its position automatically whatever the distance between the spindles may be. The extent of the transverse motion is adjusted by mov 7 ing the nut 53 along the rod 54. By means of the milled knob 55 the bolt 46 is adjusted so as to avoid jamming. In order to be able to alter the extent of the transverse motion very much, besides changing the leverage of lever 47 one may also displace the rod 45, which is mounted in an elongated hole in the end of the lever 44.,

An alteration of the distance between the spindles of the folding boards is obtained by a simple longitudinal displacement of their bearings along grooves in the frame, after which said bearings are locked in position by means of nuts 56 and 57.

After each operation, when the two folding boards have returned to their original positions leaving a further row of skeins on the sheet of paper 84 supported on the endless apron 67 (and in rear of which another sheet of paper will be placed when the former one is full) the apron 67 together with the paper must move to the right a distance equal to the width of a row of skeins. This is attained by means of a pawl 58 engaging a ratchet wheel secured to the roller 72. This pawl is mounted at the end of a lever 59 oscillating around the spindle of said roller 72, which latter is moved by a rod 60 connected to a bent lever 61; lever 61 oscillates around a spindle 62 and is provided with a friction roller 63 engaged by a cam 64: on a shaft 65 driven by the shaft 9 through a chain 66. The levers 59 and 61 have elongated holes that allow of adjusting the stroke of the pawl and therefore also the feeding motion of the paper according to the size of the sk'eins of vermicelli to be made by the machine.

The sheets of paper placed one by one in the machine are carried on between the endless aprons 67 and 74. The upper apron 67 is carried by rollers 68 and 69; the spindle of the roller 68 is supported by bent levers 70 arranged at each side of the machine and capable, in order to permit to adjust the tension of the apron, of oscillating around the spindle of the roller 72; these levers are locked in position by means of nuts 71, The roller 72 together with the roller 73, serves to move the lower apron 7 4c. The tension of the latter is automatically adjusted by the roller 7 5 supported by bent levers 76 pulled by a spiral spring 77 The upper part of the endless apron 67 is supported on a metal plate 78 to which are secured angle irons 7 9 supported by rods 80 and 81 through which elongated holes are out to allow of securing them to the frame at the desired level by means of nuts 82 and 83.

From the moment when the sheet of paper inserted between the rollers 68 and 72 arrives at 85, that is to say at the end of the lower apron, it is guided by a casing made of thin polished metal 86, which is bent upward and extends up to the top of the roller 69. This casing and rollers 69 and 73 are supported by a bearing 87 and the whole can oscillate bodily around the spindle 88 in order to allow of bringing the roller 69 farther from or nearer to the folding boards according to the greater or smaller thickness of the skeins to be made, so that the second folding board can properly rest on the same.

To allow of ready adj usting roller 69 at the proper level, the bearing 87 is provided with a tail in a groove of which a stud 89 can slide, which stud moves together with eccentric disks 90 which are rotated by means of a handle 91. hen adjusted the whole is locked by means of a nut 92.

The knife blades and 26 serving respectively to sever from the bundles coming out of the press a length of threads just required to make the desired skeins and to cut off the tails of said threads to make them all have the same length, are simple straight blades arranged as shown. The fore edge of the movable blades 23 and 24 is corrugated as shown at Fig. 2, a concave part being opposite each bundle of paste threads; moreover, this fore edge is beveled in such a way that the edge of the lower face is'in rear of the edge of the upper face; by this means, even if the blade happens to become more or less bent, it cannot strike the parent stationary blade and be stopped by it, as its incline will climb up the latter and the two sharp edges will eliiciently cooperate to cut the paste thread.

When it is desired to cut a greater or smaller length of threads in view of making a different size of skeins, the upper stationary blade 26 alone requires to be displaced; supposing it is wanted to make smaller skeins, then the movable blade 24 will overlap said blade 26 a longer distance than before, but this is of no inconvenience as will be easily understood.

Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and the best means I know of carrying the same into practical effect, I claim:

1. In a vermicelli cutting and folding machine, two stationary cutting blades, two blades movable in a straight line and arranged to cooperate with the latter and having their cutting edges formed with corrugations beveled at the lower part, whereby said edges will ride on the cutting edges of the stationary blades,

2. In a vermicelli cutting and folding machine, two normally stationary cutting blades in different horizontal planes, two movable blades arranged to cooperate with the stationary blades, means to adjust the upper stationary blade toward and from the coiiperating movable blade, said movable blades having their cutting edges formed with corrugations equal in number to the bundles of threads and with a bevel at the lower part, whereby said edges will ride on the cutting edges of the stationary blades.

3. In a vermicelli folding machine, parallel folding boards pivoted at one edge and arranged in the same horizontal plane, means to change the distance between the pivots of said boards, means to swing the boards on their pivots, and means to regulate the swinging means, whereby the required angular movement of the boards is maintained when the distance between their pivots is changed.

4. In a vermicelli folding machine, parallel folding boards pivoted at one edge and arranged in the same horizontal plane, means to change the distance between the pivots of said boards, means to swing the boards on their pivots, means to regulate the swinging, means to impart a transverse movement to said boards, and means to regulate the extent of the transverse movement.

5. In a vermicelli cutting and folding machine, two pairs of stationary and movable cutting blades, means to adjust the upper stationary blade toward and from the upper movable blade, two folding boards arranged in the same horizontal plane, spindles on which said boards are pivoted, means to adjust the spindles laterally, means to swing the boards on the spindles, and means to regulate said swinging means to maintain the angular movement of the boards where the spindles are adjusted.

6. In a vermicelli cutting and folding machine, two pairs of stationary and movable cutting blades, means to adjust the upper stationary blade toward and from the upper movable blade, two folding boards arranged in the same horizontal plane, spindles on which said boards are pivoted, means to adjust the spindles laterally, means to swing the boards on the spindles, means to regulate said swinging, means to maintain the angular movement of the boards when the spindles are adjusted, means to impart a transverse movement to the spindle, and means to adjust the last named means to increase or diminish the extent of said transverse movement.

7. In a vermicelli folding machine, two folding boards arranged one in front of the other at the same level, spindles around which said folding boards are capable of swinging, a disk on which two cam-ways are formed, two bent levers moved by said cam-ways, an adjustable friction roller mounted near the lower end of eachbent lever and engaged by the cam disk; two shafts rocked by the oscillation of the said bent levers respectively; two spring chords connecting these bent levers to the folding boards and causing them respectively to make half a revolution when said levers are rocked by the camways, plates adjustably fixed to the frame of the machine and to which one end of the spring chords is connected, shifting levers secured on the two shafts rocked by the bent levers, an adjustable jointed lever connection between each of the shifting levers and the spindle of each folding board to give a transverse motion to said spindle, two pairs of moving and stationary cutting blades to sever the bundles of paste threads to be folded, the stationary blade of the upper pair being adjustable, and means for driving the shaft on which the said cam disk is secured, for driving the said cutting blades and for feed ing sheets of paper one by one to the machine for the purpose of supporting the skeins made.

8. In a vermicelli machine, two folding boards arranged one in front of the other at the same level; spindles on which said boards are arranged to swing, a disk having two cam-ways, two bent levers moved by said cam-ways; two spring chords connecting the bent levers to the folding boards to swing the latter when said levers are rocked by the cam-ways, shifting levers rocked by the bent levers, an adjustable jointed lever connection between each of the shifting levers and the spindle of each folding board, to give a transverse motion to said spindle; two pairs of stationary and movable cut ting blades to sever the bundles of paste threads to be folded, the stationary blade of the upper pair being adjustable and the fore edge of the two movable blades being formed with corrugations equal in number to the bundles of threads and with a bevel at the lower part, means for driving the cam operating shaft, means for driving the knives, and means for feeding sheets of paper one by one to the machine.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BENJAMIN FERDINAND AUGUSTE COURTINE.

Witnesses:

H. C. Coxn, ALGIDE FABE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. a 

